Applying With a 2005 Leaving Cert: Old Points, New Rules

You sat the Leaving Cert in 2005. Six higher level grades, a points total you can still recite, and a CAO form that long ago gave way to a job, a mortgage, or both. Now you want back in. The good news fits in one sentence: those results still count, and the CAO knows what to do with them.

Old grades, new scale

The points system changed in 2017. Letter grades such as A1 and B2 gave way to H1 through H8 at higher level and a matching O scale at ordinary level, with new values attached: a H1 earns 100 points, a H4 earns 66, and a H6 or better in higher maths adds a 25 point bonus, up to a maximum of 625. Anyone who sat the exam before 2017 gets converted onto this scale before points are counted. The CAO publishes a points calculation grid and an online calculator on cao.ie that map pre-2017 grades, including pre-1992 results, onto current values. Run your own grades through it rather than working from a half-remembered chart.

The trap: your old total stays home

Returning applicants tend to assume a 2005 score of 450 points travels as 450. It does not. Conversion works grade by grade, and the arithmetic of the new scale produces a different sum from the one on your old results slip. Some applicants land a touch higher after conversion, others a touch lower, and you find out which by running the numbers. The CAO itself notes that a pre-2017 applicant's points change when calculated on the current scale. Treat the old number as history and start from the converted one.

Once you hold the converted figure, compare it against recent cut-offs. Our course search shows the latest points and the trends page shows how they have moved since 2020. The Level 8 median stood at 377 in 2025, so a converted total near 380 puts a wide band of courses within reach.

Two routes, one application

Age works in your favour here. Applicants aged 23 or over on 1 January of the year they enter college can apply as mature students. Colleges assess this route on life experience, work history, motivation, and in some courses an interview or written statement, with points taking a back seat. Citizens Information and the admissions pages of each college describe the assessment in detail.

The part people miss: both routes live on the same CAO application. Tick the mature box, include your exam results, and each course considers you under whichever routes it operates. Where a college runs both, you get two chances at the same place. Ticking both costs nothing and closes nothing. Omitting your results, by contrast, hands back a route for no benefit.

Where the 2026 cycle stands

Applications for September 2026 entry closed at the start of February. If you applied, your next window is Change of Mind, which opens around May and lets you rework your course list at no charge until 1 July at 5pm. Use the gap between now and then to run your conversion, read our 2026 points outlook, and set your list in genuine order with the course you want most at the top. The offer system protects that ordering: an offer removes the choices below it and keeps the ones above it live for later rounds, so ambition at the top of the list carries no cost.

If you missed the February deadline, put next year's dates in your diary now and spend the months ahead building the mature side of your case. A 2005 Leaving Cert plus twenty years of work makes a stronger application than the 2005 Leaving Cert made on its own.